‘Hundreds’ on kidney transplant waiting list

HUNDREDS of patients are waiting for kidney transplants, seven years after organ donations and transplants became legal in North Cyprus, a healthcare official has said.

Ülfet Kral, (pictured) head nurse at the Dialysis Department in Lefkoşa Dr Burhan Nalbantoğlu State Hospital, said that despite the passing of the Human Organ Transplant Act in 2015, only 50 patients — 28 from live donors and 22 from cadavers — have had transplants in the TRNC, adding that “hundreds of people are also waiting for a kidney transplant”.

Before the laws on organ donation and transplantation were passed, patients were dependent on dialysis or had to travel to Turkey for a kidney transplant.

Stating that the number of transplants has decreased due to the Covid19 pandemic and that there is “no awareness in the country about organ donation”, Ms Kral said that kidney dialysis patients have also had to contend with medication shortages for the last two years.

“I’m tired of calling the Pharmaceutical and Pharmacy Department and saying ‘we are out of this medication’,” she said.

“Kidney disease is a very serious chronic illness and a solution should be found for the drugs shortage.”